30 Inspirational Quotes About Writing

Curated by:

Esther Fink

Last updated: 03/9/15

You ever wonder what happens in the mind of a writer?

How do they come up with the stories, life changing ideas and magic that keeps us riveted to the page?

Here are some of the quotes that hint at their mastery. Some seem rather common sensical, others make writers out to be enlightened masters of the written word, and we just want some of their spell revealed.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be,,, You playing small does not serve the world.Marianne Williamson

It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like “What about lunch?”A.A. Maline

And the idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for a while is just bliss.JK Rowling

The only environment the artist needs is whatever peace, whatever solitude, and whatever pleasure he can get at not too high a cost.William Faulkner

To make your life being a writer, it’s an auto-slavery…you are both the slave and the task-master.Susan Sontag

I discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, ‘To hell with you.’Saul Bellow

Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.Seth Godin

Dig until you hit rock. Then take out that jackhammer and go a little deeper.Allison Brennan

It is likely I will die next to a pile of things I was meaning to read.Lemony Snicket

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.Ayn Rand

Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.George Orwell

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.Stephen King

Writing isn’t something I do, writing is something that I am. I am writing – it’s just an expression of me.Wayne Dyer

The writer doesn’t write for the reader. He doesn’t write for himself, either. He writes to serve…something. Somethingness.Joy Williams

Cherish your vision and your dreams as they are the children of your soul – the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.Napoleon Hill

Keep away from people who try to belittle your dreams. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you too can become great.Mark Twain

We writers must know that we can never escape the common misery and that our only justification, if indeed there is a justification, is to speak up, insofar as we can, for those who cannot do so.Albert Camus

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.E.L. Doctorow

In descriptions of nature one must seize on small details, grouping them so that when the reader closes his eyes he gets a picture.Chekhov

Sometimes you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.John Green

When you’re trying to create a career as a writer, a little delusional thinking goes a long way.Michael Lewis

Get your passion on the paper. Detach from the outcome. Forget about whether it’s going to get published.Wayne Dyer

When I graduated from high school I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library 3 days a week for 10 years.Ray Bradbury

Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.Willa Cather

Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.A.A. Maline

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.Goethe

What’s your favorite quote about writing? Let us know in the comments.